* Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021): 4.5/5

Every frame and every scene is a great pleasure. Kind of like a book of intertwined short stories. Cooper Hoffman is superb. 

The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021): 4/5

A (more) homoerotic version of There Will be Blood, with admirable amount of masterbation. The first time I watched it, I completely missed a key plot point near the end, and I didn’t like it much. Then I rewatched, noticed a lot of visual evidence that I didn’t realize was evidence the first time and ended up liking it much better

 

The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski, 2021): 3/5

The first third is insightful, trippy and new, but the last two thirds is all dumb fisticuffs. So basically it mirrors the trilogy that precedes it. 

The Last Duel (Ridley Scott, 2021): 1.5/5

Square, dull and pedantic. Will the rapist triumph????? The people who say this is like Rashomon (including Ridley Scott on WTF) do not understand Rashomon, which is about (among other things) uncertainty with regard to the nature of reality itself — not about all the characters making themselves the hero. And it’s definitely not about how we all have our version of the story but we should believe the woman/victim. So dumb. 

 

C’mon C’mon (Mike Mills, 2021): 3.5/5

Mike Mills is obviously a really open guy, emotionally — and that leads to some stunningly feeling places. I related to much of it quite intensely, but I can only imagine how precious a non-parent would find it. 

 

The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2021): 3.5/5

Richly expresses some normal and taboo feelings about ones own children — stuff I’ve heard expressed with candor many, many times. Universal stuff and the polar opposite feeling as that expressed by C’mon C’mon. I love how Gyllenhaal just watches these great actors do their thing, but the result doesn’t explode with meaning. 

Azor (Andreas Fontana, 2021): 2/5

As if you’re watching Martin Sheen and Harrison Ford’s characters from Apocalypse Now hang out for an hour and 20 minutes, then Sheen pops upriver one afternoon to discover that Kurtz Is just yet another errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill. Maybe more depressing but certainly less dramatic. 

 

* Spider-Man: No Way Home (Jon Watts, 2021): 3/5

Lots of action, little jibber jabber. Good job. 

 

* Sing 2 (Garth Jennings, 2021): 3/5

I remember people used to say that as the Boomers died off, Sgt Pepper would stop being named as the number one album in Rolling Stone, etc, and would be replaced with a U2 album, probably Joshua Tree. Thank god that never happened. But now when the old lion in this movie comes emotionally out of retirement to play a song that is universally adored, it’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. And it kinda works.

Belfast (Kenneth Branagh, 2021): 2/5

A memory piece with no plot or even incident, really, unless you count “Then we went to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The end.” I was not emotionally engaged. 

 

The Reason I Jump (Jerry Rothwell, 2021): 3/5

Doc which consists of about 45 minutes of hanging out with non-verbal autistic kids, with voice over from a manuscript written by a non-verbal autistic kid. Beyond Interesting and a great opportunity for self-reflection on one’s life own filters and assumptions.  But that 45 minutes is padded out with long pillow shots and cliched emotional vistas with music. Argument for shorter docs and movies in general.

  

Spencer (Pablo Larraín, 2021): 3/5

It’s in the Sofia Copolla school of ‘poor little rich girls in the cage of their privilege.’ But it’s a little hard to emphasize with her predicament. Don’t we all hate attending family Christmases? Personally, I endeavor to not behave like a neurotic mess during them, and I reserve a special respect for those who succeed. The movie is unlike Jackie in that Jackie O is desperately holding the reins of history, instead of failing to not disappear up her own butt. Still, some beautiful stuff therein.

 

Jakob’s Wife (Travis Stevens, 2021): 3/5

A reverend’s wife gets turned into a vampire and starts asserting herself. I could see the indie version being good (Phantom Thread?), but this one was low-budget fun and full of spraying blood. 

 

tick, tick … Boom!  (Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2021): 1/5

Yes, that’s really what’s it’s officially called. I struggled over several days to finish this movie, which I pretty much hated all aspects of. Tuneless songs and merciless mugging. I understand that the kids these days like it, with their Tiks and their Toks, which…they can have it.

 

Polytechnique (Denis Villeneuve, 2009): 3/5

Restrained, aestheticized, riveting and pointless. It does manage to be ABOUT hatred and violence against women as opposed to just BEING hatred and violence against women. 

 

Prisoners (Denis Villeneuve, 2013): 3/5

Situations change and flip and the characters change with them, which I like. As with Incendies (and Polytechnique for that matter), it’s actually the “worst case scenario death child abuse murder” vibe that repels me. Perhaps Villeneuve equates this with seriousness. Gyllenhaal is good, and Hugh Jackson is acting his balls off but is just ok. 

 

Asako I & II (Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2018): 3.5/5

Its simplicity, sincerity, placidty and clarity makes the main character’s enigmic knot of sadness easy to accept and access.

 

Good Time, rw (Josh and Benny Safdie, 2017): 3.5/5

Emotional, spontaneous, nervy, raw and lawless. 

 

Sopranos, six seasons. (David Chase et.al, 1999-2007): 5/5

I didn’t love every moment or every episode or every season (looking at you Season 2). But overall, an epic achievement. The characters don’t change much and it has a sitcom-ish tendency to reset at the end of an episode or season. Still it’s packed with colorful characters that become deeper with each passing episode. Full of rich, dark and profoundly true quotes and observations about fathers and substitute-fathers and sons, and husbands and wives, growing up, the value of friends, dreams and loyalty. Plus, Burt Young riddled with cancer and covered in blood, inhaling a cigarette and listening to Sister Golden Hair. For me, Season 5 was a knockout.

 

 

The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier, 2021): 3/5

Imagine being lost professionally, not having any friend at all, and on top of that being attracted to men? Poor Julie, this is not a life.

Surely an issue of overly heightened expectations – I was hoping for Toni Erdmann/Fleabag-like bursts of flight into sublime, reckless humanism and all I got were the familiar beats of millennial malaise.

Don't Look Up (Adam McKay, 2021): 3/5

Or, John Oliver's MELANCHOLIA.

It is, by design, a movie of the moment. The pacing certainly suffers from all of the deleted scenes making the cut. But still, watching a murderer’s row of our finest actors contribute to such a bleak narrative is inherently interesting. “I get it” is among the most basal reactions one can have to comedy, and “I agree” is arguably even lower, but the most nihilistic part of my brain knows this is exactly what would happen if this was a real scenario and IDK, maybe the world SHOULD end.

Being the Ricardos (Aaron Sorkin, 2021): 2/5

This just made me want to rewatch I Love Lucy, which is perhaps its only valuable contribution.

And apologies to Kidman and Bardem, who are both terrific actors, but they are simply unconvincing as the television couple. Sorkin’s writing here is mid-tier, but it’s the composition that feels disorganized. The communist accusations, the marital problems between Lucille and Desi, the crucial week that nearly impacted the future of I Love Lucy. There comes a point where I questioned what this movie was really about. Sorkin’s poor directing skills are more prevalent than ever. These icons deserve a better legacy than this.

C'mon C'mon (Mike Mills, 2021): 2.5/5

I dunno man that kid's pretty insufferable. Gabby Hoffman is fantastic though. BEGINNERS is still my favorite of Mills's.

The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson, 2021): 2/5

Wes Anderson opens his broom cupboard and out spill all the same old visual ideas, themes, colors, and actors. A film clearly designed for the Anderson faithful. (I love FANTASTIC MR. FOX, but otherwise I'm generally not a fan.)

The Matrix Resurrections (Lana Wachowski, 2021): 2.5/5

Need to rewatch this with subtitles. Couldn't hang on to anything during my initial midnight viewing at Grauman's Chinese - too idiosyncratic, clunky and cluttered with a glut of meta ideas. Only thing I can say definitively is that none of these sequels will ever come close to what the original Matrix showed us.

Squid Game (Hwang Dong-hyuk, 2021): 2/5

Don't understand where all the hype is coming from. Nothing new here - it's all reused and way overlong, only with people dressed as Playstation buttons thrown into the mix this time with singing dolls. (And what, no actual squids???)

The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhal, 2021): 3/5

A thematically rich character study that peels back at the multifaceted nature of motherhood, THE LOST DAUGHTER is firmly held together by a harrowing performance from Olivia Colman. (Good thing too, since this is a "no plot, just vibes" kinda movie.)

Spider (David Cronenberg, 2002): 1.5/5

I could admire Cronenberg's formal rigor in immersing an audience in mental illness if it weren't so banally reductive, pessimistic and bleak. OK yeah I get the point is that there is no room for change or hope of an inner life for this man that is not a baffling hell of his own mind, constantly recycling a dramatically pat trauma that conveniently catalyzed his insanity. But that's a shitty point.

The Learning Tree (Gordon Parks, 1969): 3.5/5

As the first film from a major American studio directed by an African-American filmmaker, The Learning Tree is a landmark, pioneering work of cinema. How wonderful, then, that Gordon Parks’ semi-autobiographical debut is also a pretty fantastic film. Delving into themes of Black identity and expressions of masculinity, Parks’ film is fascinating and relevant, even decades after its release. The cinematography reflects Parks’ eye for photography, and the performances of Kyle Johnson and Alex Clarke serve as great narrative foils.

 Inside (Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury, 2007): 3/5

~vomits in french~

Just 79 minutes of visceral, asshole clenching brutality.

The Andromeda Strain (Robert Wise, 1971): 3.5/5

99% of this movie is middle-aged scientists looking at graphs on CRT computer screens it's so good.

Antlers (Scott Cooper, 2021): 2/5

Throwaway supernatural horror with a strong cast that elevates the formulaic script.

rewatched Titanic (James Cameron, 1997): 4/5

What can I say, it works (apart from the crap framing device). Still a specular, frequently gloriously clunky melodrama, and one of the most technical marvels ever. This is where we first met.

John Wick Chapters 1-3 (Chad Stahelski): 3.5/5

Not much to analyze here, I'm a sucker for action choreography that's as intricate and athletic as dance choreography, so this was a real tonic. Duly impressed with director Chad Stahelski's willingness to let things play out in continuous shots, rather than use the editing suite to hack and slash the thing to ribbons.

Inferno (Dario Argento, 1980): 1/5

More like Infer-NO THANKS lol

Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980): 2.5/5

Recently read Stephen Bach's Final Cut about the disastrous making of this film. I don’t think this deserves either its “biggest failure ever” status OR its “lost masterpiece” status. It’s got great stuff in it, it frequently looks fantastic, but it absolutely doesn’t work. Watched the 3 1/2 hour Cimino version. DEFINITELY NOTICED OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRIMS!

The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979): 2.5/5

Scary hammer-wielding killer kids in snowsuits and Samantha Eggar's external womb are never going to be not fucking terrifying. While the shape of Cronenberg's rage is conceptually powerful, though, his obvious and deeply personal pessimism seems to me misplaced, and the film is somewhat unbalanced by some misogyny seemingly directed at his ex-wife. While Art Hindle never plays an upstanding spouse, exactly, the core idea of his wife's inchoate rage spawning uncontrollable murderous offspring -- a condition that spreads to their actual daughter -- is somewhat simplistically tossed off: bitches be crazy. The fear, suspicion and jealousy here is intrinsic, unexplained, and inevitable but never interrogated.

rewatched Pi (Darren Aronofsky, 1998): 3.5/5

I wish there was a bigger payoff regarding the numbers and patterns discovered in the film, but then again I realize that Pi is not so much about 3.14159…etc., as it is the madness derived from the endless search for something that may or may not exist.

Between anxiety attacks, migraines, and heavy self-medication, there's a constant obligation to question what is real and what is not—actual events vs those that merely unfold within the confines of Max's damaged psyche. (Further proof that too much work and not enough downtime can only be harmful.) Some of the imagery is among the most harrowing in Aronofsky's catalog—e.g. the brain on the subway steps, or the final shot involving Max, a mirror, and a power drill.

Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988): 2/5

Kevin Spacey is very believable as the coked out predator.

rewatched Licorice Pizza (PTA, 2021): 4/5

Didn't hit me as hard the second time around, but still very good.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Ron Howard, 2000): 3/5

There is a swingers key party scene in this movie?????

Porcile (Pasolini, 1969): 1/5

Porcile is, impressively enough, two exceptionally tedious films pushed together to form one near stupifyingly dull experience. One half has cannibals and set in an incredible volcanic scenery, the other half is about German industrialists, which is so boring, so mind-numbing that I cannot physically bring myself to describe it. Long portentous scenes about communist idealism apparently just does not do it for me. And you know, I thought it would.

Anchors Aweigh (George Sidney, 1945): 2/5

The Homoeroticism in this movie is so thinly veiled it’s almost text. And I wish I were as talented as Gene Kelly is to not only be able to dance like that but also play triads on the piano using only your absolute dumptruck ass.

Lost in America (Albert Brooks, 1985): 2/5

And to think all these years I thought I was missing something by having not seen it.

 Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021): 4.5/5

Or, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE VALLEY (in 70mm)

Easy, breezy effervescence anchored by two absolutely impish charmers. So organic and delightful. Best PTA has done in a long time. Extra half star for Alana Haim who is a fucking SUPERNOVA star.

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (Radu Jude, 2021): 3.5/5

A hypnotic and absurd satire on the childish, misinformed and hateful state of contemporary life. It definitely won't be for everyone, not least because of the hardcore pornography scattered throughout and the bizarre expression of feminist fury that is the conclusion. I will definitely re-watch this film at some point down the line. Also, it will be interesting to see how this film is going to age, as it is firmly planted in the year 2020, with the ubiquity of face masks throughout (sometimes worn under the nose, and commented on by other characters; Covid is never a major topic, though, merely a nuisance on the side that the characters are dealing with), but also its highly political themes. During the runtime I thought of both Chris Marker and Abbas Kiarostami. Those are lofty comparisons, especially for a movie so raunchy, but the unique blending of fact and fiction bears all the requisite hallmarks.

The Humans (Stephen Karam, 2021): 2/5

Most films and stories begin with indirect commotion to set the scene. An establishment of people, places and things relevant to the experience you're about to have. Idle chit-chat, a roaming camera perspective that hasn't settled on its primary subject yet. What THE HUMANS presupposes is, what if that were the entire movie?

By the time an actual non-ambient "set piece" occurs for the first time, the movie is 5 minutes from ending and I realized I'd spent 100+ waiting for it to start. It's a challenging way to tell a story - through off-hand gestures, fleeting dialogue exchanges, and heavily symbolic use of physical space. It's like you're strolling past the door frame through which the movie is happening but you never really stop there to observe it at length. Interesting, yes. Altman must be beaming in pride from the afterlife.

But I needed something to grasp onto. If the grand theme is something along the lines of: families are fragile and messy, corrosive and rotting, full of pain and excruciatingly mundane, but also unbreakable, a lighthouse in the stormy sea of life, then I get it and I got it within the first 5 minutes, hoping for an expansion, a deepening, a series of subsequent examples that really stoked some cerebral or emotional embers. Relationships can be dreadful. Okay. I must be missing something here. Intricate, unsettling sound design, arguably meticulous blocking and some observant bits of conversational nuance can't mean that much to me in a vacuum. Despite the A+ cast, this is the waiting room of films.

What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (Aleksandre Kobridze, 2021): 3.5/5

Still processing this but it's really quite lovely if you can persist through the lulls and grab onto the details as required. I really appreciated it as a romantic fable that didn’t try to manipulate you, and as a city symphony.

Spencer (Pablo Larrain, 2021): 3/5

Spencer soars in its technicals, and Stewart is a genuine doppelganger here. The Greenwood score, j'adore, especially when it's all plasticky beads and chintzy jazz, and Claire Mathon shot the hell out of this.

Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven, 2021): 3/5

Textbook Verhoeven. Her only crime was being horny and theatrical.

Last Night in SoHo (Edgar Wright, 2021): 2/5

Honestly the whole movie hinges on the wigs not looking stupid and they kind of do.

King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2021): 3/5

This doesn't make any sudden moves and sometimes that's the assignment.

The Last Duel (Ridley Scott, 2021): 3/5

“Customary protestations.” If I feel angry at the state of current society I guess I only need to watch a historical drama to remind me of the progress we've made.

The most surprising thing about this medieval France Rashomon is how little the remembered accounts of the three characters differ in their basic facts, only disputing the degree of Matt Damon's loserdom.

tick, tick...BOOM! (Lin Manuel Miranda, 2021): 1.5/5

Glad theater kids finally got their BLACK PANTHER. Kinda a problem though when your least favorite part of a musical is the musical numbers.

Passing (Rebecca Hall, 2021): 3.5/5

A lot to admire here, especially in how confident Rebecca Hall's direction is in knowing that this is her first feature film behind the camera - and also in what she brings out from both Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. Extra half star for the queer subtext.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Michael Showalter, 2021): 3/5

Great to watch the incredible journey of Andrew Garfield and Jessica Chastain’s jaws continuously grow over the course of 2 hours.

The Beta Test (Jim Cummings, 2021): 3/5

The tone of Eyes Wide Shut with the script of a 40s hard-boiled film noir that has the anxious danger of American Psycho lurking just beneath the film's surface. Juggles so many different ideas and critiques that it is on the verge of thematic incomprehensibility at every waking moment, but Cummings's performance is so maniacal (and honestly probably pretty accurate) that it's not too difficult to get onto this movie's wavelength for a bit. It's not fully cohesive, but it certainly holds your attention.

There's Someone Inside Your House (Patrick Brice, 2021): 1.5/5

Pretty blah. Not sure why Brice is concentrating on cheap chills rather than making more uneasy comedies like THE OVERNIGHT. What's that? Ka-ching, you say?

Introducing, Selma Blair (Rachel Fleit, 2021): 3/5

"This is what happens that I don't want people to see," says actress Selma Blair, as her comfort dog jumps off her lap and her speech begins to painfully shut down into a pall of spastic tremors.

You can't watch this scene without feeling profoundly moved.

Nine Days (Edson Oda, 2020): 1.5/5

Way too cute and superficially inspirational for my taste. Also, why is all the tech in this non-Earthly realm specifically from about four decades ago?

L'humanite (Bruno Dumont, 1999): 1/5

Soporifically uninteresting on every level save for its sheer cussed unconventionality. And Schotte's bizarro performance pretty much kills the movie for me. A stultifying debut. Any debate about the identity of the killer or the details of the murder investigation is utterly irrelevant.

Polisse (Maiwenn, 2011): 2/5

Tonally, a total mess. Vignettes veer from comedy to melodrama to kitchen sink drama to after-school-special and back again. The end is a baffling--yet gorgeously shot--moment that is completely unearned since no character is developed enough to make the beats really land. Would have made a gripping television show, but, I think CSI's got that covered.

rewatched Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984): 1.5/5

I kind of hate Sam Shepard, to be honest (as a writer, including for the stage)—his spill-your-guts approach to dramaturgy, while catnip to actors, tends to be the exact opposite of what moves me, and the extended finale here, which I assume the movie's ardent fans treasure, still seems to me that most egregious of sins, the regurgitated backstory. (And what a weird way of saying he was an abusive pedophile. But ok... as long as he is sad about it!)

Also, maybe I’m too stupid to understand Harry Dean Stanton's appeal but he doesn’t have the chops in the form of silent charisma to carry a movie like this.

Gervaise (Rene Clement, 1956): 4/5

Perhaps the ultimate example of what the Cahiers du Cinema critics meant when they were denouncing "la qualité française." The thing about "la qualité française" is that it was still, well, quality. GERVAISE fits the Howard Hawks definition of a masterpiece containing three great scenes and no bad ones: a wince-inducing sudsy fight at a laundromat, a long dinner with a bunch of miniature arcs in its own right, and a feverish cup-massage scene that goes out of control. Lots of fantastic little details along the way – mud on boots in the Louvre, a bunch of tiny sight gags that reveal character at a show – and Maria Schell is a great lead.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jires, 1970): 1.5/5

Narratively in shambles, as deeply surrealist stuff tends to be. There's also a great deal of unintentionally silly imagery being put to poor use (e.g. just about all of the Nosferatu-looking demons, the powdery make-up of the mother, etc.).

Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Denis Cote, 2013): 1/5

SPOILER ALERT:

Strictly speaking, no they didn't.

The Beatles: Get Back (Peter Jackson, Michael Lindsay-Hogg): 5/5

Massive. A band grinding out songs and arrangements, working hard and keeping things light and loose, inviting chance and grabbing ideas as they arise. You never get to see a band actually do this extremely common thing, and in this case WTF it’s the Beatles. Big takehome is how much John and Paul love each other. John would do anything for Paul except take seriously shit songs like Maxwell and The Long and Winding Road. Like late QT, Paul’s genius can no longer tell the difference between his hits and his misses, and he won’t listen or take hints. 

The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson, 2021): 3.5/5

Anderson’s densest text yet, which will turn some people off. His stop-motion stuff and live stuff are merging, and this one is for those folks who didn’t think Grand Budapest had enough frames within frames, models and animated sequences. His movies always get better on re-watch, but I suspect this one will remain in the bottom half of his films for me.

Old Henry (Potsy Ponciroli, 2021): 4/5

Reminiscent of early Coen Bros: a genre piece full of violence and irony. Good script with a perfect (for me) balance between talk (not much) and action (much). 

The Beta Test (Jim Cummings, 2021): 3/5

Lacks the funkiness and warmth of Cummings’ Thunder Road and Wolf of Snow Hollow. The douche-chills fragility and vulnerability remains, and there is a more savage edge here, plus extreme lying. Gah, a miserable character!

Last Night In Soho (Edgar Wright, 2021): 2.5/5

Wright’s most adult movie, which still displays a teenage conception of the world, at best. As always, there are a lot of hot shit CGI transitions and edits that would have felt 10x better if accomplished, however arduously, in camera. I can definitely see how this is Beat Girl (see below) plus Blood and Black Lace (see last movie run-down), so good on ya!? Critical consensus seems to be that the first half is good but the second half bad. But I found the beginning and end to be fun and good and the second act to be boring and bad.

Bergman Island (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2021): 2.5/5

The conflict in this travelogue is nonexistent or else extremely, extremely sublimated. It would certainly fall into the bottom quarter of Bergman’s works. 

Encanto (Jared Bush/Byron Howard/Charise Castro Smith, 2021): 3/5

Unusually, the protagonist does NOT undertake a literal journey. The drama is internal (all taking place in a single house), and although it was too slow for many of the kids in the theatre (Jack was fine), I was surprised by ending’s emotional punch. Chock full of tuneless Lin-Manuel rap songs: yuk. 

Blue, 12 min. (Apichatpong Weerasethakul): 4/5

A woman lies in bed, dreaming and remembering, until her soul catches fire and consumes her and then the world. (Or at least that’s my guess). Huge symbols with the barest cinematic means. 

7362, 10 min. (Pat O’Neill, 1967): 3.5/5

An exercise combining Matisse’s cutouts, Rorschach, acid and naked ladies. What’s not to like?

Angel (Ernst Lubitsch, 1937): 3/5

An uncharacteristically serious outing for Lubitsch, and a better love triangle than, say, Sabrina. Until the end, I really didn’t know which man Dietrich would pick, and I confess I was a bit disappointed by her choice. Best ever love triangle movies? Design for Living? The Philadelphia Story? Casablanca?

Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife (Ernst Lubitsch, 1938): 3.5/5

Screenplay by Charles Bracket and Billy Wilder. “The class of people who come here gets worse every year. [looks Gary Cooper over suspiciously] and this year we seem to have next year’s crowd already.“ I’m not sure Claudette Colbert manages to stitch together a coherent character from scene to scene, still each bit is pretty amusing. 

Only Yesterday (Isao Takahata, 1991): 2/5

An unusually straight-forward drama (for an animated movie) about a young woman taking a long vacation in a farming region of Japan and falling In love with a young organic farmer—while also remembering/flashing back to barely relevant moments of her life as a young girl.  

Beat Girl (aka Wild for Kicks) (Edmond T. Gréville, 1960): 3.5/5

A juvenile delinquent, good-girl-gone-wrong movie, capitalizing (I imagine) on the sexual frankness of And God Created Woman four years earlier. Here, English Bardot-look-alike Noëlle Adam (who will later be picked up in the record store by Malcolm McDowell/Alex and mechanically screwed in fast-motion—as well as photographed in the nude by David Hemmings/Thomas) explores the gamey of world of London Strip clubs. Includes a half-dozen real boobs (in 1960) and an extremely sexy, frank and dirty strip club scene for the time—or any time. 

Novelistic-or-Not Film Fest

Re-watching Secret Sunshine just as I finished Franzen’s Crossroads (which I took great pleasure in) prompted me to think about what “novelistic” means. Setting aside the issue of “interiority,” we’re probably talking about movies that are long and full of characters and situations that evolve/change radically. Some movies that seem novelistic in this way, off the top of the dome: The Godfather, Giant, Gone with the Wind… (I’m afraid I’m not really doing much with this definition other than making Jerry’s skin itch, yet I persist).

Secret Sunshine, 2h22min. (Chang-dong Lee, 2007): 5/5

Zeroing in on this idea of a “novelistic” movie, here our heroine moves through the widest possible range of emotions and situations—which demonstrably changes her fundamental attitude toward her life and being alive, multiple times. Unlike so many movies focusing on female pain, her character remains active. Doing things (even if they are self-destructive and meaningless) seems powerful and hopeful—in fact pretty much the essence of the human condition. And Lee is smart to also include a more “basic” character to always ground her suffering in dumb joy and hope. 

Our Time, 2h57min. (Carlos Reygadas, 2018): 2/5

Not novelistic. Lots of beauty here but in its bagginess, indulgence and dissipation, the work it reminds me the most of is Inland Empire. Sicinski claims this tale of a humiliating open marriage is autobiographical enough to have “removed the frame” to the extent that he wonders whether it is even art (!?). If this is true, it is a true act of Fassbinderian masochism.

My Sex Life…or How I Got Into an Argument, 2h 58min. (Arnaud Desplechin, 1996): 2/5

Not novelistic.  A gabfest chock full of solipsistic characters, very much a la The Mother and the Whore and just as dull. I ask myself whether I would have liked and related to these characters if I was closer to their age, but I believe I would have then been if anything even more puzzled and antagonized by this tone poem of the sexy and self-satisfied. 

Once Upon a Time in America, 3h49min. (Sergio Leone, 1984): 3/5

Novelistic. Full of grand and epic street scenes, with 100s of people walking through massive sets or just 40 people casually sitting around. Three time-frames in a dreamy jumble. The kid stuff has a certain Bugsy Malone quality except there’s a lot of 14-year-old prostitution-adjacent content. In fact, the movie is fascinated in general with all possible below-the-belly-button activity, always to embarrassingly dated effect. For example, our fine, handsome and soulful protagonist very certainly commits two screaming, crying rapes. Yippee! To emphasize the grand emotions, the last 30 minutes slows to a deadly, Refn-ish crawl. 

Marketa Lazarová, 2h42min. (Frantisek Vlácil): 2.5/5

Not novelistic. In fact, barely narrative. Hawks, slaughter and miles of mucky pools of standing water in 16th century snow and slush. Do you find Andrei Rublev insufficiently dreamy and incoherent? Then this is the epic for you. 

Love Exposure, 3h57min. (Sion Sono, 2008): 1.5/5

Not novelistic. A silly, broad, adolescent sex comedy. This was something of a sensation in Japan, which doesn’t speak well for the country and its future. 

Margaret, 2h58min. (Kenneth Lonergan, 2011): 4/5

Novelistic. Addressing a complex moral problem (ones own responsibility for and contribution to the everyday horrors of the world) with many casually real scenes, filled with swirling and intense emotions and, at times, great acting. Also on some level a portrait of a divisive post-911 NYC. 

Dune (David Lynch, 1984): 1/5

Laughably bad at times, and even at its best it's just an imbroglio of half-baked "space" ideas; faces, places, names, and historic details come flying at you rapidly without ever being given the time to grow organically. And as if you somehow wouldn't have a hard enough time trying to remember all of the expository bile that's regurgitated at you, DUNE plays by its own rules, making up things as it goes along, never cohering to a single set of governing laws that attempt establish it properly. Its most justifiable reason for existence might be to provide a concrete example of how not to adapt a Sci-Fi Novel to the screen.

Dune (Denis Villenueve, 2021): 2.5/5

Agree with Justin's comment about its production design. Having said that, I didn't feel a single emotion for two and a half hours.

Tell No One (Guillame Canet, 2006): 2/5

The soundtrack is too bad to be true. Not a fan of Francois Cluzet; only here for KST playing a lesbian.

Blue Bayou (Justin Chon, 2021): 2.5/5

This film desperately wants you to believe that there are some good ICE agents in the United States. Bush-league copaganda.

Bitter Moon (Roman Polanski, 1992): 2.5/5

In the seemingly endless saga of films in which Hugh Grant plays a little bitch, this is by far the most unusual.

Lipstick (Lamont Johnson, 1976): 3/5

Weird to see Mariel Hemingway be a literal child and then 3 years later be Woody Allen’s girlfriend in MANHATTAN. Not a pleasant film to watch, but it was better than I expected it to be. Also, it has Anne Bancroft in it, which is always a good sign.

OCTOBER HORROR

Spirits of the Dead (Fellini, Vadim, Malle, 1968): 3/5

A schlocky anthology of three Edgar Allan Poe tales, translated to the screen by some of the biggest names in 1960s European cinema: Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, and Federico Fellini.

Vadim kicks off the morbid triptych with "Metzengerstein," a semi-incestuous gothic tale of Renaissance Fair proportions.

Malle's segment, "William Wilson," is a fascinating pre-Freudian horror story about a man haunted by his conscience, which externally takes the form of his doppelganger.

Fellini's ghostly final act though, "Toby Dammit," is the standout. A drunk and dissolute movie star is trapped inside a surreal purgatory of his own preeminent making, a spooky place that boasts a swirling band of media and paparazzi who vie for his attention.

Halloween Kills (David Gordon Green, 2021): 0.5/5

1/2 a star for Anthony Michael Hall's absolute commitment to the incredibly terrible lines he had to read.

Snow White: A Tale of Terror (Michael Cohn, 1997): 3/5

Surprisingly effective re-telling of Snow White that brings back a grim(m) edge to the story. Weaver was killing it in ‘97 with Alien Resurrection and the Ice Storm; this is arguably her most uncelebrated role.

Slither (James Gun, 2006): 2.5/5

A woman is forced to eat raw dead animals and gets so fat her skin literally just rips open and she explodes all over everybody. She is quite literally the size of 6 or 7 hippos.

An American Werewolf in London (John Landis, 1981): 3/5

Filed under"decent-but-won't-be-watching-again-anytime-soon" Manila folder. Things start to derail a little for me when David begins his "relationship" with Nurse Alex, a strange detour that continually feels out of place and at tonal odds with the rest of the film.

Creature from the Black Lagoon (Jack Arnold, 1954): 3/5

The creature's appearances provide a charge that transcends the rubber suit (especially when underwater; love the significant role silt plays in one tense sequence), turning this into a sort of proto-Jaws, albeit with an uncanny frisson. Workmanlike rather than virtuoso, but the bluster among the male stick figures amuses and Julia Adams makes an unusually imposing scream queen.

Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931): 2.5/5

The weakest of Universal's classic horror movies. "What's that? Running across the lawn?" asks Harker, staring offscreen after Dracula departs. "Looks like a huge dog!" "Or...a wolf?" Even by early-sound standards, the stiff theatricality is overwhelming, and Browning seems oddly uncertain of what to do with the camera. All this film really has going for it is Lugosi and art direction, and one could even make a case for including Lugosi among the art direction. He's effective here the same way that Schwarzenegger is effective in the original Terminator: his foreignness makes him uncanny.

Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931): 3/5

As it is, there's more than enough Expressionist creepiness to compensate for the creaky '31 dialogue scenes. At some point I need to just accept that Hollywood endured a rocky half-decade immediately following the transition to sound, and that even the best films from that period tend to be somewhat compromised. The difference between Whale's work here and Lang's work in M the same year is truly remarkable—the latter seems an order of magnitude more advanced.

The Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935): 2/5

I can't believe how little “the bride” is actually in the movie. (She doesn’t make her first appearance until about 6-minutes before the end credits roll.) I understand she is the relative apex of the film, but I don’t think it would’ve hurt to actually develop her—at least somewhat—as a character, rather than merely a concluding element.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh, 1994): 3/5

Branagh characteristically manages to make a very literal adaptation here, reverently underlining every thematic note. The ultimate Cool English Teacher movie.

Lamb (Valdimar Johannsson, 2021): 2.5/5

Did I find this productively about anything? No. But the central image is so arrestingly absurd, and when combined with the incredibly portentous tone, honestly that was enough to keep it afloat.

When a Stranger Calls (Fred Walton, 1979): 3/5

It’s like the first 20 and last 10 minutes are a horror movie and there’s just a random episode of Law & Order in the middle.

The Ninth Configuration (William Peter Blatty, 1980): 2/5

There's a part where Stacy Keach, single-handed and unarmed, kills an entire biker gang.

Prom Night (Paul Lynch, 1980): 2.5/5

A typical slasher bolstered by its leading player and giallo charms, PROM NIGHT is undercut by some era-centric elements. It is solid horror whose impact is lessened by disco.

Anguish (Bigas Luna, 1987): 3/5

Bonkers Eurohorror where Zelda Rubinstein plays a psycho hypnotist who brainwashes her schlub son (legendary “that guy” Michael Lerner) into becoming an eye-gouging serial killer who runs rampant in a local movie theater. Weirdest part is: it might be the very movie theater you’re currently sitting in, as reality folds in on itself in a mesmerizing “film-within-a-film” wormhole fashion where, roughly 40 minutes in, it becomes unclear as to who exactly is watching who (or why anyone is enjoying any of it). Think: Dario Argento does FUNNY GAMES in Spain, and you’re not too far off.